Ok, I have to start with bright, happy news. I photographed one of my favorite families tonight. The mom was looking GORGEOUS in a vintage dress that I covet (give it to me when you are done-*if* I can fit in it, ok?). There were three cool homeless men hanging out like 5 feet away smoking pot. Yes, this is day two in a row that I am talking about mariuana on my baby photography blog. Whatever, obviously I need something to make me feel better, and I wish it was that but it is not. Anyways, they were super polite as they smoked their joints around this adorable 2 year old and sweet, sweet 4 year old. Perfect.

Well, I got the salt-on-fire-in-the-belly-button treatment again today, but I am feeling so bad. I think with a chronic illness like this, you get to this point where you are just so tired. So tired of being sick. The hard part is that I am not actually getting any food in me, so I am weak. And tired. And my husband is obsessed with aquaponics and is mostly only doing that and Amelia just had the flu and I am just tired. And caffiene makes me sick so I have to give up coffee and I am sad about that. Did I mention that I am tired? And can’t have caffeine?

Overall, though, I am super happy that I have booked TWENTY FIVE mini sessions. That is just nuts. And I still have people emailing and calling to request a session.

We have a crazy month ahead of us. My lovely office manager, Kellie, will take good care of everyone (and me!) and Reg, my gorgeous sales manager, will help everyone with ordering. All I have to do is take the photos, and that is what fills my heart with joy, so I think it will be a good month as long as Kellie and Reg pick up my slack (total bonus included at the end of the month if they are reading this post and mention the bonus:). I mean, they have to read my blog, right?

So, I filled up my two weekend mini photo sessions completely, and opened up two more dates if you are interested. Wendesday, October 12th at Chataqua in south Boulder, and Wonderland Lake in north Boulder on Saturday, October 22nd. So if you were on the waiting list or just want to schedule a mini session email me asap.

How am I going to remember all these kids names? That is the thing I am worrried about the most. I know I will get beautiful images of each family that is special to who THEY are, but if I see them on the street I might not remember, and I ALWAYS remember kids names. Parents names, eh. Kids, for sure. So, if you are doing a mini session with me and I call you a weird name during the session or ask what your husband’s name is ten times, please know that I LOVE all my families, but this year there are just so many mini photography sessions and I am tired and might not remember. But I still love you and your kids.

More tomorrow.

xoxo stacey

p.s. posting another sweet photo from this session, because it is all I have on my laptop, and my hard drive is still stupid crashed. So, this is all I have that is sized for blog.

pps. That is my sweet new kitty simba. He has the same roar and tenacity as the real lion king. Love him.

ppps. I did everything for my computer hard drive crash and I still can’t see my photos:( All edited shoots for the last year are backed up though, so no worries….

Yeah, well I have not been blogging because my HARDRIVE CRASHED. Yeah, that is like the most devastating thing a photographer can say. I *know* all my photos are backed up, but I don’t KNOW it yet bc I can’t see them yet. So I am in an uneasy in between place right now. I just want my computer back. So sad.

And I have been sick, sick, sick. Yeah, I have crohn’s disease. Such an ugly name. I wish it was Sunshine Disease or something more happy. But a crohn is an old woman-evil-witch, right? So I have old woman-evil-witch disease, and it sucks. I have so many emotions around it, but mostly I am sad and mad. Sad, that I can’t love my babies in the way they deserve right now, and mad bc it is a stupid disease that they don’t know anything about and they can’t cure it and it is just stupid. And it hurts. And I can’t smoke pot to help it like they suggest bc I don’t like mj. It makes me feel weird and paranoid. But, on the upside, I DID gain 55 pounds when I was pregnant with Amelia, and I have lost the last 15lbs in 4 weeks. So I am looking good. I am thin now. I am trying to eat lots a fat though to not lose any more. So now you know my life. It is what it is.

I have about 30 mini sessions booked. It is nuts. I am opening up a few more days if anyone else wants to book a mini session. I am SO looking forward to just going out in nature and photographing loving families. That is a good day, to me.

xoxo stacey

ps, Amelia’s stomach bug is gone but I *hope* i have it and it is not my evil old woman disease.

pps. Christian, my computer guy, just told me at 8:30pm that my computer looks good. There is some program that has to run and then it will be fine. Give me some good energy for it to run again!

pps. do you LOVE this picture? So sweet.

ppps. I just want to let you know that I let my acupuncturist filled my belly button with salt and lit it on fire today. AND-I feel much better. So go-fire-belly-salt. Fire belly salt rocks. Thanks Kate. I love you.

So, it is that time of year again! I have been so busy that I have not gotten around to announcing my fall mini photography sessions and I am getting emails every day from clients asking when they will be. Since I have had so many inquiries I have opened up two weekends for the mini sessions:

Saturday October 1st

8am

8:30am

4:30pm

5pm

5:30pm

6pm

Sunday, October 2nd

8am

8:30am

4:30pm

5pm

5:30pm

6pm

Saturday, October 8th

8am

8:30am

4:30pm

5pm

5:30pm

6pm

Sunday, October 9th

8am

8:30am

4:30pm

5pm

5:30pm

6pm

*the fine print: sessions are nonrefundable due to the nature of them being back to back (who wants to sit in a field for a half hour waiting for the next family?:). But they are totally transferable!  Session includes custom holiday card design but the cards or digital negative is purchased separately. Small and large animals welcome. I have a new kitty if anyone wants to borrow it.

Please email boulderbabyphotography@gmail.com or call me at 720.310.0336 to schedule. Please also mention a few of your top preferred times when emailing so I can try and juggle the schedule for everyone! Once I confirm your session, I will send you all the fun info on how to prepare (what to wear, bring, etc…).

Can’t wait!

xoxo stacey

Okay, okay, you all know I have been gushing and awing over Miss. Barb Uil, Jinky Art (from Australia) FOREVER. She is my favorite photographer EVER, and I am so inspired by her daily.

Well, I am the kind of person that just goes for it. You know? I have an idea, and I DO it. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

9 months ago I wrote Jinky an email telling her how fabulous Boulder was, how cool my cohousing community is, and how perfect it would be for her to do one of her US workshops here in Boulder. And….a few months later, she wrote back and said YES!

So, I hosted Barb and 30 photographers from all over the country in my home and community a few weeks ago. It was awesome. I learned so much, and was inspired to change my art in a way that is already filling my heart with joy.

So, whenever, 7 months ago, when we decided to have the retreats here, I asked Barb if she would have time for a family session. This is before i asked my husband. I casually one day, after making sure to make him HAPPY, asked him if we could throw down $5k on a shoot with Barb. My idol.  My favorite photographer in the WHOLE world who is coming to OUR house. He answered with a big fat, absolute, “NO.” Anyways, Barb wrote back and said she had no time as the workshops were hectic and too much was going on.

Two days before she arrived I got a casual call from Barb: “So, Stacey, did we talk about me doing a shoot of your family as a thank you for hosting? I hope you can come up with something that is amazing and totally YOU guys.” In two days. Two days.

So I freaked out. I told all my neighbors and friends and posted on my photography forums that BARB UIL was photographing my family. MY family. In two days. What ideas did they have?

Nothing.

I was taking Amelia on a walk the next day and saw that my neighbors had brought their orange vw bus out of storage. Well, I remembered an awesome shoot that Barb had did with a vw, and thought it would be perfect. AND, I used to be a dead head, (even though I was only 15 when Jerry died)-but I did go to SIX shows and had front row center for the Grateful Dead’s very last show in Chicago. And I wanted to drop out of school and get a vw bus and follow the dead, but a good teacher talked me out of it. So I went on to get my college degree and then my master’s in Boulder where there are a lot of old deadheads anyways.

So the bus idea was perfect. We took it up to this ridge in north Boulder. And got these photos. Is she the most freaking amazing photographer you have ever seen?

Then, casually, she says later that night “It would be cool (or maybe she said neat? I don’t know or remember Australian lingo) if we did a series of shoots with your family in Kombi’s.” Btw, “Kombi” is what they call vw buses in AU. Never heard it before, but I like it.

I posted IMMEDIATELY to my Boulder mom’s groups and to craigslist looking for two more buses. The next night we had an awesome red bus out in a field. The night after that we had an amazing yellow Kombi that was driven into the MIDDLE of a sunflower field. I kid you not. Freaking amazing. A full-on sunflower field.

So, here are a few photos from the first of the shoots. I am not sure why I am so lucky, but I know that the more I open myself to others, the more these amazing things and opportunities land in my lap. I just feel like it is unreal.

Thank you Barb, I love you!

xoxo stacey

Yeah, lot’s more beautiful ones like this to come. Thank you Heidi, I love you and your photography is amazing!

These are mine, by the way, and me.  Sunflowers and all. Wonderful, magical shoot. Could not get better than this….

Just wanted to get one sweet one up for today. I love this one because Penny is just so snuggled in there-the way a newborn should always be and feel.

Amelia is still sick so I am scrambling to get up client galleries and make phone calls while she takes her short nap and before Elijah gets home from school in 5 minutes. Sigh, the joys of working motherhood.

Though-just got an awesome phone call from a mortgage broker that sounds like our new house might FINALLY be closed upon. We shall see. Not getting my hopes up. But send me some good new-house-buying-energy if you have any to spare.

xoxo stacey

Last night I did a last minute photo shoot in north Boulder for my two new slings that are coming to target.com soon! We are working hard on clearing out all of our old inventory and ONLY carrying organic. AND they are made in the USA. And we only have ever offerred Target organic ones. For those of you that are new to my bloggity-blog, I also created and own Karma Baby Slings. So, these are the two gorgeous new colors-Cloud and Plum, on my gorgeous sales manager, Reg, whom many of you have met (and love her). Of course I post the beautiful close up of the baby first-really, baby photography is my first love and Karma Baby comes way down the list, although I am always giddy to think of all the sweet little babies that are being snuggled up by their mothers right now in something that I created.

So, on the homefront-Amelia has the stomach bug. Or something. She woke up at her normal time (thank god) and started throwing up all over the bed (loads of throw-up wash I am NOT looking forward to do so I am blogging instead of doing laundry to avoid it further). She got sick a few more times, and then not again. She has taken in some food and water and seems fine now. Might have to cancel my newborn shoot this week, but hopefully it is a 12 hour thing. She is taking a nap. Sure, she was winey as hell all day and I CAN NOT get the freaking Dora the Explorer song out of my head, but overall we had a really nice, cozy day.

Sorry Reg if all FOUR of your boys are sick today from having dinner with Amelia last night.

Anyways, go tell all your friends to buy my new slings at target when they come out in a month or so…

xoxo stacey

This was a beautiful Boulder night, but kept sprinkling on us. The sun peeked in and out throughout the session, and the rain kept starting and stopping. At this point, we just wanted to get a few last family photos but the rain was coming down to hard. I tried clicking away-not sure what the final image would look like with all the rain in the way, and I ended up just *loving* this photo. One of my new favorites, for sure.

Hard times today. Nanny left for school a week and half ago, I am super behind on emailing and calling, the babies are sick, Amelia is not taking naps and waking up WAY too early, the house is a wreck, and I am just plain TIRED. My neighbor and I spent TWO full days interviewing new nannies, and then my husband told me today that he ONLY wants a nanny that is fluent in Spanish. Seriously? Can we just get someone that will love my baby and do light housekeeping? We found some great candidates and now I have to do the process ALL over again. Bc Adam wants a nanny that speaks Spanish. All over again. I have to do interviewing all over again. Sigh.

xoxo stacey

…that I am going to blog it in all of it’s wonderful parts. Here is the playdough part, Mama made homemade playdough in all the colors of the rainbow, and put them in beautiful mason jars, and then we let the little ones play. It is what they love right now, so why not capture THAT? I so want to capture who each child is in thismoment. Amelia loves baby dolls, ELijah is obsessed with aquaponics. Need to come up with some theme for my own children. Baby dolls, fish, and plants…we’ll see what I ome up with. MANY more amazing photos from this shoot to come, this was just a small part. *Hope* mama Hay is getting a blogfull of bliss right now!

Okay, you remember Victor from this sweet photo with his mamma a few days ago. I had to post more and tell the story of how this session came to be. You all know, that is, *if* you read my blog. Do you???  I think people do, they stop me out in public bc they recognize my kids from the blog, they ask my about how the closing on my house is going (not well), etc… So, anyways, hosted 30 photographers from all of the country and world a week or two ago and at the VERY end, Yuliya, from Yuka Photo Art approached me to do a session with her and her family while they were in town. They were gong to be in town for like twelve more hours. That’s no problem, right? It was 3pm and I had to drive Jinky and Heidi (her gorgeous assistant) back to the airport but I said “yes!” anyways.

It is a huge honor to be asked by another photographer to photograph their family, but even more so bc there were loads of other amazing photographers in town for the workshops. So that is me bragging. So there. I can be proud, right? I told her I could do a mini session rather than a full bc I was EXHAUSTED at that point from a week of running around organizing the workshops, and knew that was all I had in me.

I jumped in my car and drove Jinky and Heidi to the airport, and then I (gasp) took the kazillion dollar toll road home to try to make it in time to actually make a photo session happen for Yuliya. The toll road, btw, sent us a bill for $989 one time for late fees accrued off of like $17 dollars worth of tolls. So we try to boycott it. We never paid it, it was ridiculous, and they promised they would drop the charges if we signed up for x y and z of their programs, and my husband threatened them, and they dropped the extra $972 in fines. So don’t take that stupid toll road unless you absolutely have to.

Getting way off subject here. So I rushed home on the tollway and the weather was beautiful and bright with big cumulus clouds in the sky and then as I drove into Boulder the wind and rain HIT me. It was hard to walk from my car to my house without being blown over. Sadly, I called Yuliya and told her the photo shoot was probably not going to happen, but you never know with Boulder weather so I would call her back in a half hour. And guess what? In a half hour, things were calm and bright again! So we jumped in our cars and ran to Wonderland Lake and the wind picked up a TON, but it did not rain and we still got some beautiful photos of her family during their visit to Boulder.

Yeah, that dress is not meant to poof out that much-but I think it is kind of cute and I LOVE that dress so much I hardly notice the poofy wind underneath. And Yuliya’s hair is really a lot calmer, but I like how funky the crazy wind makes it look. It goes with her style. And then you can’t *really* tell that Victor’s mohawk is whipping from side to side. And thank goodness for dad’s haircut:)

So that’s the story. Thank you Yuliya for letting me photograph your beautiful family and being so relaxed about the whole thing! I had a great time meeting you and would love to see you guys again. You are the cutest family ever!

Did an *awesome* concept shoot last night with a four year old boy, bugs, frogs, mud, and fishing. Sadly, he was afraid of the frog. The frog my husband went out last minute to Petsmart to buy for the shoot (don’t call Peta, he was treated very well). So if any of my clients have little boys that love frogs and want to set up a session before we give this frog away (we need NO more pets in this house), contact me asap. I think if we had spent time warming him up to the frog a little it would have gone a bit better, so that is what I will do next time.

Amazing concept shoot tonight, too! I am loving all these wonderful ideas I am pulling together with my clients to create portrait sessions that express THEIR families and I can not wait to start posting all these amazing photos!

xoxo stacey